Wishful Thinking
by AletheaDarcy
Summary: This is a story about Bella's journey of falling in love with Edward. Edward is in Bella's clasess but he doesn't notice her.Bella is on a mission to change that fact, regardless of her shyness. Other characters to follow later. Normal pairings.


_A/N: All characters in this story belong to Stephanie Meyer, the plot belongs to me._

_Chapter 1_

_**The first time that I noticed Edward Cullen was in our Maths class. I was never one to be described as boy crazy. Sure, I had had crushes in the past but never had I experienced anything like this before. **_

_**I wouldn't describe it as love as first sight, rather gradual attraction from a distance. It's not like I routinely checked out boys in my classes or anything. I was far too studious for that. I first noticed him throwing his head back laughing at something that his friend Emmet had said. His eyes lit up when he laughed. Then he turned his head and smiled to his other friend, Jasper, to acknowledge his part in the joke. He had the most gorgeous smile. One of those smiles that took up half of his face, showing his (of course) pearly white teeth, and instantly making any person in his vicinity smile also. **_

_**I suppose I had always known of Edward, since I started Forks high school at the age of thirteen but he was simply a name on the roll until that very day. From then on though, I had a growing awareness of him and once this awareness was switched on, I suddenly realised he was everywhere. I was in all honours/advanced classes in school and while Edward and I did not study all the same subjects, we were in a few classes together-Maths, English, German, Business and P.E (Physical Education). Edward, like myself was studious, and of course he was incredibly intelligent. The only problem was that these classes were large ones and Edward was a popular guy, always surrounded by other people. Even if the opportunity arose and I did have his attention for a few minutes I wouldn't have been able to work up the courage to talk to him. Firstly, I am shy with people that I don't know well and then there's the fact that physically, I could only be described as plain.**_

_**I am told that I have my Dad's brown eyes, and shoulder length dark brown hair-pretty ordinary. My style could be described as, well, I'm not sure that I had a particular style at that time. My parent's, Charlie and Renee hadn't a lot of money, especially as only Charlie worked while Renee had chosen to stay at home and look after me and Charlie. One wage was barely enough to pay the bills every month, put food on the table and provide me with enough money for my school books and excursions, not to mind the extravagance of trendy new clothing. I usually had to make do with hand-me-down clothing from older cousins and aunts, which left me with quite a mismatched look. My clothes were outdated and shabby, but comfortable. I didn't complain because I knew that my parent's gave me all that they could. When ever I earned money from baby sitting, I tried to buy one or two items of clothing that I thought would perk up my wardrobe. I had a sense of fashion, it was just deeply buried beneath a pile of white wash jeans and bobble jumpers. All it needed was a working credit card or a bulging wallet for it to be dug out. However, I didn't get baby sitting jobs half as often as I would have liked and when I did, essentials such as revision books and new trainers for P.E came before the need of new clothes. **_

_**He of course, was physically my opposite. In other words-gorgeous. His looks, while of course they were there, were not the obvious kind. You know, not the ones that at one glance had a girl swooning and fanning her self from one look at him. Rather, they grew on you, and infinitely increased once you got to know his character. Don't get me wrong though, I mean, Edward was good looking-he had this slightly tussled head of bronze brown hair, his green eyes were framed by a pair of black framed glasses , and he had an athletic physique from being captain of the school and local football team. The best thing about Edward was that he was one of those rare nice guys-the type of guy who let's a girl in a doorway ahead of him, will stop and help you pick up your books when they fall and had extremely good manners. **_

_**After that Maths class though, Edward slowly crept into my life, my day dreams full of him suddenly noticing me and talking to me, my dreams at night full of him telling me that he secretly liked me all along, asking me out and falling in loving me. Wishful thinking**_** on my part-it would never happen!**

**I felt like I was losing my mind though, I just couldn't stop thinking about him, looking at him in class, praying that he would look my way or say hello in the corridor. That's when I decided that I could no longer do nothing. I decided that the likes of me would never grab the attention of the Edward Cullen's of this world, however I thought that it would suffice to work up the courage to talk to him, every so often, where appropriate. It started with some 'hello's' and 'Hey Edward, do you know when out next English test is coming up?'-even though I already knew the answer to the question, to 'So Edward, were you able to do question six in out Maths homework? I figured out all the rest of them but not that sum.' You see, I knew that Edward while equally as intelligent if not more so than me, he sometimes had trouble with the harder Maths problems. So I shamelessly tried to use my intelligence to my advantage-it was the only thing that I had going for me. That's how a tentative friendliness began between Edward and I. **

**As I said, Edward was a popular guy and of course he had a female fan-club-just one that he wasn't aware of. The head of the secret fan-club was Jessica. I didn't know Jessica all that well. Sure we had spoken together to each other and were friendly towards each other but the friendship stemmed from mutual friends throwing us together rather than anything else. As I said we were cordial towards each other, and I wanted to be friends with her but after awhile I got the distinct impression that she didn't like me. I couldn't figure out why, I mean I had never done anything untoward, for her to dislike and I was definitely not a threat towards her physically, as she was quite pretty. Still though, the feeling that she didn't like me always remained, no matter how much my brain tried to rationalize with my feelings. **

**I had discussed it, on occasions, with Renee, who believed that her dislike for me originated from he jealously of my intellect. I'm not sure that I agreed because Jessica was equally as smart as me, although she did have a competitive streak and didn't like the fact that I had been made captain of our English debating team or had been picked to sing and play the flute at the school concert. However her hatred of me became really obvious when we were walking towards the car park one day after school. We got talking about school, boys, etc, when she asked me if there was anybody I liked. I don't know what came over me. I had never confessed to anyone that I had a crush on Edward-mainly because they would laugh, as he was way out of my league ,but she had been really nice towards me lately. I had mistaken her niceties as the beginnings of a proper friendship. So I decided to give her the benefit of the doubt-it would be nice to have another friend. I mean in order to be friends with someone you have to trust them and share your secrets with them, right? Wrong, I was oh so wrong. I remember the conversation like it was yesterday.**

'**Okay so, I do like some' I said looking at the footpath, trying to hid my embarassment and blush.**

'**Oh come on Bella, you know you can tell me? Do I know him?' she rushed excitedly. **

'**Um, yay Jess, you do'. I replied.**

'**Oh my god, is he in out year?' Jessica questioned.**

'**Yay but look if I tell you, you can't tell anyone. Promise?' I pleaded with her.**

'**Sure, of course. I won't tell anyone. So come on, who is he? I'm dying to know' she stated with enthuasism?**

'**It's Edward….' I mumbled. When she didn't reply, I thought that she wasn't sure who I was talking about, so I rephrased. 'You know, Edward Cullen?'.**

**That's when I noticed a change in her demeanour. She suddenly didn't seem so perky anymore.**

'**Oh Edward. Cool.' She replied with a tight smile. Her body language was tense and cold. I mean I know that he was out of my league and all, but that didn't mean that a girl couldn't dream right? I didn't understand her cold reaction.**

**I wasn't until later that night, after I had my homework done and I was lying in bed, contemplating the day that it struck me. How could I have missed it? How did I not see? All those casual brushes of her fingers against his arm, her constant attention towards him. How the volume of her laugh would increase when Edward was telling the joke. I mean it was blatantly obvious and I had missed it. She liked Edward too-and I had just opened up a can of worms with my admittance. **

**A/N: This is my first attempt at writing fan fiction so please let me know what you think, critiques and all. Thanks so much for reading it-I really appreciate it!!**


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